A house or apartment generally includes a storm door having glass panels and window screen panels in front of an exterior door. The storm door provides visibility outside of the exterior door through the glass or screen panels and allows ventilation through the window screen panels. Also, the storm door protects the exterior door from bad weather and thereby helps to prevent infiltration from a strong rush of wind or rain.
Typically, a storm door has the general appearance of a swinging door, that is a door panel suspended on hinges within a door frame. When a person standing outside opens the storm door, the storm door swings cm the hinges toward the person so that the person must back away from the opening. This outward swinging action of the typical storm door requires there to be a clear space in front of the doorway equal to about the width of the storm door. In areas where snow is prevalent, snow builds up in front of the door making it difficult or in extreme cases, impossible to open the door. For instance, a 36″ prior art storm door must displace 36″ distance of swing worth of snow. It is not unheard of where a person must use a different exit from their home and then must shovel clear their storm door so it will open.
When a prior art storm door is located at the top of a set of stairs, a person opening the storm door must step backward, usually descending a step or two, in order to provide the needed swinging clearance for the storm door open. Stepping backward on a set of stairs can be awkward, especially for the elderly, the infirm and the very young. This difficulty is compounded if the person is carrying groceries or other objects.
Another difficulty encountered with prior art storm doors is prompted by the common return spring system fitted to swinging storm doors. A person attempting to enter through a doorway closed by both a storm door and a main door must hold the storm door open against its return spring with their elbow, hand or body. This action can be especially cumbersome for a person with a physical handicap or carrying a load.
Furthermore, a prior art storm door sometimes can be caught by gusts of wind, which may cause severe damage to the door and/or the doorjamb to which it is hinged.
There is therefore a need for an improved storm door that overcomes these shortcomings found in prior art storm door systems.